Made to Crave For Young Women by Lysa TerKeurst and Shaunti Feldhahn

From the press release:

Made to Crave For Young Women is modeled after TerKeurst's bestselling adult book, Made to Crave. In this new edition, the authors expand beyond the food-related focus of the original, and into all the other areas of craving shared by so many teenage girls. The authors acknowledge that the desire to make wrong choices is common and that most of us share such temptations. But, as TerKeurst writes, "Whether we are talking about guys, friends, food, body image, new clothes, or anything else we abuse to try to fill ourselves, nothing in this world can ever fill us like God's portion."

My Thoughts:

The book discusses three types of cravings--physical, material, and emotional. Each section of the book takes one of these cravings and discusses where we can fall into temptation and sin when we have wrong thinking about each subject. At the end of each chapter is a "takeaway" summary of what was discussed in the chapter. Also there is an action plan that encourages girls to keep a journal and challenges them to act on what they have learned in each chapter. Made To Crave for young women encourages girls to fill their lives with a loving Heavenly Father instead of filling their cravings with physical, material or emotional things. Filled with scriptures, encouragement and practical advice Made To Crave For Young Women can be used as a devotional or study group book. I know I will be passing my copy on to my nieces.

Thanks to Zondervan for my copy for review.

Daddy Dates by Greg Wright

"THE ROAD MAP FOR ANY DAD TO RAISE A STRONG AND CONFIDENT DAUGHTER"

In Greg Wright's book Daddy Dates he shares with the reader his insights into dating his 4 daughters. Having 4 daughters made him realize that he wanted to be involved in their lives and invest in their lives. He came up with the concept of dating his daughters and has shared in his book how a Dad can go about doing that.

Getting to know each daughter's personality and likes and dislikes has helped him establish meaningful relationships with each one of his daughters.

My favorite chapter was "Lucky Number 13" where he took each daughter on a big date when she turned 13. He made it a very special get all dressed up kind of date. He shared with her about what is on boys' minds. He talked about how valuable a person she is. He explained the family principle of not dating until college. He also explained about the intimacy of sexual relationships and why it is best to wait for the "I Do". He then presented them with a special ring to wear on their left hand until the time that a young man will put his own ring on her finger.

A great book for any dad that has daughters to read! Greg Wright's daughters are lucky girls to have such a Daddy!

Little Mercies by Lynn Coulter

Little Mercies is a collection of inspiring true stories that the author has experienced throughout her lifetime. This book could almost be used as a daily devotional except that there aren't 365 stories, just 16. Each story has its own inspiration that the author then relates to stories that are in the Bible and verses that uplift and encourage. Four of those stories stood out for me.

Night Music tells about a friend that moved far away. The friend missed the sounds of the south and asked the author for a tape of night sounds. A beautiful story of friendship and appreciation for God's Creation.

Singing Behind the Plow tells of the authors visit to the John C. Campbell Folk School where she took a class on canning produce. One of the things that she talked about was how God honors our hard work. Also how important it is to pass on to our children and grandchildren skills that are becoming extinct like canning or even making homemade bread or biscuits.

Forgiven tells a story about when her father was a young boy. He was punished unjustly by his father for an incident he had no control over. The author talks about forgiveness being a gift and that we must forgive others.

Streetlight Dog is the story of a stray dog that the author tried to befriend. I loved how she compared her efforts with trying to be friends with the dog to how Jesus is alway pursuing a relationship with us.

I picked a few of my favorites out of this book, but really each story had something that spoke to my heart and reminded me to watch for those "Little Mercies" in my own daily life.